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Marsala was the theme color and it was a busy busy weekend for me. I have to admit that despite the long hours of slaving away stripping and prepping flowers and finally arranging them and making sure they survive the process is extremely tiring and at some moments you look around and feel like you are not getting there yet but the end result is always satisfying. I often go to bed at wee hours when doing wedding flowers with an aching body and really dirty nails! It was tougher on me this time carrying a little one inside and with the extra weight the base of my feet hurts faster and I have to wear a soft rubber slipper around to protect it.

Having an aching body at all the bad places while being pregnant is no fun. I also wasn't able to sleep well during the two days due to the pain my brain is always focusing on. After two consecutive days of facing those lovely pinks and deep reds, the venue set up on Saturday was rather swift at 6:30am with the help of my ever helpful and supportive hubby! I got home after, had some breakfast and collapsed into a deep 1.5 hour much needed sleep.

Sometimes I wish I have an assistant (something I am looking into for next year when I plan to expand by a teeny weeny bit) to help with the cleaning and prepping because that takes up the most time. Speaking of expanding I am now working on new a branding and image for my business and it's a WIP for the next couple of months before I pop. I leave you here with some horrible photos from my phone haha... and I'm waiting for the professional ones from the photographer once it's ready and I will share them here.

Today I woke up energetic and with a mission, a mission to get all my shit together for this weekend's wedding set up for a client. I went out to get remaining oasis foams, ribbons and pins. I imagined the set-up to be swift and easy as I have my trustee husband to help me out even though it's a 5:30am morning call. I'm somewhat excited for this project because it's a color scheme I've not done before. Although I have to admit the person on the other end of the phone has been testing my nerves for the past few months. *Namaste namaste namaste* Looking forward for wedding set-ups again after the baby arrives! #floresstudio

Whoopeee! Look what came in the mail yesterday! My new staple beauty products from 100% Pure. Being the true lazy girl that I am in the beauty department I have always did my face in the fastest and most convenient way. I'm pretty sure most of you know about powder foundation which are available from quite a few big brands out there and it's my favourite item because of how fast you can dust it on your face and go on with the day. But most powder foundation contain minerals which gives you the great glow and texture, it also has it's benefits but also other side effects. Since I found out I'm pregnant I became more aware of what I apply onto my skin hence I started looking for mineral and chemical free products. So whats in it?

Bismuth Oxycloride

What is it? : Refined heavy metal of lead and copper

Pro : Shimmery glow to the skin

Con : May cause skin irritation, rash & aggrevate acne

Mica

What is it? : In a raw form it is like a mineral gem stone made up of aluminium silicate, alkalis and hydroxyl

Pro : Fine particles

Con : Linked to coughing, weakness and weight loss when inhaled over time

Boron Nitrate

What is it? : The item which helps mineral foundation stick to your skin

Pro : Longer staying power of foundation on skin

Con : May cause nasal irritation, disruptions in liver and kidney

This time around, apart from replenishing my almost finished powder foundation I decided to add cream foundation for the days where I have an occasion to attend and I need a little extra coverage. I'm always thinking in advance and I have a wedding to attend in December so I do want to look my best after delivery when my life is being sucked out by the many sleepless nights and busy day adjusting to my new role as a mommy! The least I can do to treat myself better is to groom myself well and look my best...so I tell myself. I have avoided cream or liquid foundations since my first try on them in
my early 20s because I hated the feeling, the weight, texture and the
typical smell of make-up on my skin. This morning I tried the fruit pigmented cream foundation and I totally love it! It feels light after application, it glides on smooth, ZERO smell (important to me) and it has a matte finish without looking dry and my skin still comes through but covered well.

I have to say I've been pretty darn happy with the powder foundation since my first purchase as it goes on well to my skin and again this has ZERO smell as well and it feels like nothing on my skin which is what I love and I use it daily to look fresh. I was pleasantly surprised to receive together many little packs of samples of body moisturizers, shampoo and hand cream. Definitely looking forward to trying them on!

I rarely shop for myself anymore and I rarely enter clothing stores too because it gets too crowded and I just can't focus. I like an empty-ish store, zero changing room que and almost zero hold ups at the cashier. (I think I just described the environment in a luxury designer store) So I now pretty much pre-shop online and either purchase it online if it's not available locally or purchase it from the store like a guy on a mission - enter, locate item(s), pay, exit all under 15 minutes if possible. Taking a break from baby shopping and now pre-shopping for myself, these are a few items I have my eye on from Zara AW16 collection.

As much as we tell ourselves that if we are beautiful on the inside, we are also beautiful on the outside. Yes, that is true to a certain extend, but I can't ignore exterior beauty care either because it does boost confidence and who doesn't want to look good! I can say that before, I take pretty alright beauty care but there are a couple of areas I pay almost zero attention to which are my hair and nails. I don't visit the salon often enough to get the usual hair trim and treatment nor do I spend 2 hours at the nail salon beautifying my nails and scrubbing my feet clean from dead skin which has now led to my Sahara desert heels cracking and dead dry. I only use Argan Oil almost daily to treat my hair which I tell myself is sufficient. Is it really? I don't really know. As for my nails they were not attended to since October 30th 2015 (the day before my wedding) but frankly I'm loving how it's not as dry as before when I use to get them painted pretty often about 5 years ago.

As for my face, I go for a good cleansing and extraction facial once every 2-3 months or when it gets out of hand. I have been going to this lady ever since I could remember and my last visit was some time in April I think, when I could still lie on my back without feeling uncomfortable and cutting off blood supply to the little one in my belly. I can't go for a facial now even if I wanted to and with all my extra spare time because I can't lie on my back for 2 hours anymore until after I deliver but thank God my skin hasn't acted up since. Baby is probably giving me good skin haha!

Now for the real beauty body issue, the female body, it goes through tremendous amount of changes during pregnancy and after birth. The most obvious is the belly, it expands to the size of a large balloon to fit another growing life in there and then depletes badly after the baby is out and it leaves a large hanging crumply sack of a skin hanging there (from what I saw from postpartum pictures) and that scares me heaps! How do I get flat abs ever again? How do those damn Victoria Secret models do it after 2 months postpartum and walk the runway in a freaking bare it all lingerie? How do they train like crazy with a personal trainer and yet attend to the baby? Don't they have to feed it and care for it 24/7? It is hard work enough being a new mom, having lack of sleep and yet we have to deal with this horrible distortion of the body. Sigh...I'm not looking forward to it. I realize that I will be very much alone at home once I'm done with the confinement session for the 1st month. During that time I will have a hired confinement lady who will be staying with us for a month and she will be my only "companion" during the day. After the 1st month is up, I will be all alone and I'm actually kinda worried that I will be lonely and lost. It is hard enough to cope with a new baby and being alone and but I also have to deal with not feeling good about myself because it's not like I will miraculously bounce back into shape and parts naturally gets back to how it was once! Magic seems like something I will need during that time. With a swish of a wand and a beauty spell...yes...that sounds perfect, so I can just look bloody awesome again in 24 hours and have a crying baby in my hand then seems like a reduced amount of issues to deal with. But life doesn't work that way DOES IT? No! Nothing comes without hard work and I have to work bloody hard to to achieve my unrealistic goals below bravely and diligently and not let it go too far down south ;

1. Belly - Rid stretch marks, tone, improve skin elasticity, flatten

2. Legs - Tone, slim, rid cellulite

3. Boobs - Tone

4. Arms - Tone, slim down

5. Butt - MAJOR tone, slim down

6. Facial skin - MAJOR cleaning and extraction

7. Stretch marks - minimize or rid (if getting rid of it is even possible)

I've been really good at saving money in the beauty department in the past but with this new role I'm taking on soon I know I cannot stinge and I have to get back into shape and probably work towards trying to look better than before! Wish me all the very best. I will need it all badly! :(

I get tons and tons of ideas and inspirations just from my daily browsings on social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. I can't live a day without going through my Instagram because it's been the source of faith, inspiration, ideas and drive for my work as a self made & self taught floral designer and event stylist. There are so much more I want to do via my business Flores Studio, and not just restricting to arranging flowers. I've tried my hand at visual presentation areas like doing a whole dessert table, wedding stationary design and tablescape presentation. I can't stay put and just do one area because my mind is just constantly spinning with ideas and I know I have heaps to give.

"... Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble" - Shahrukh Khan

When I started to go full time in this business 1.5 years ago I had many ideas but nothing solid and nothing too fixed as I wanted to to see which area I can change and improve on, but I've learned that there's always much room to improve in all areas and it's a constant learning process. I've had some growing success considering that I'm still working from my kitchen and I came out of no where just very suddenly I jumped into the world of floral design, and trust me, I am so thankful for all those great opportunities that came by my way. I've also learned from some failures too and it has made me more aware and careful of my work ethics. It is so very true that "Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble" - Shahrukh Khan. I've lived by believing very strongly that the day you believe you have succeeded is the day you have failed. I also believe that no matter how good you think you are, there's always someone out there better than you. I have learned to appreciate every opportunity I get and treasure the experience and look forward to more challenging jobs.

This month of July will be my last month taking up wedding venue decor as I am getting too big for event set-ups as I will be due for delivery this early October and I have enrolled in birthing classes from August to September. I decided that I will use this time to not only prepare for the baby but I have some ideas to revamp my business identity. I have some ideas on creating new business cards, polishing up the logo, gift cards and maybe other packaging items and hopefully this will be the foundation for future growth. I would also like to dabble into photography (something I have always wanted to do but never had the budget for a camera) with flowers as I got totally inspired by my floral idols Mary Lennox and Tulipina as I fell in love with their prints of their floral arrangements for sale. I probably won't be selling my own photos but it would be a great project just for fun and added portfolio and an excuse to blow em up and hang them in my home or give them as gifts!